Tajik Minister of Labor Mamadsho Ilolov told a news conference that domestic and foreign media reports on the number of Tajik labor migrants in Russian jails -- usually given as around 40,000 -- are exaggerated, \"Tojikiston\" reported on 21 August. Ilolov said that Tajik citizens find themselves in jail in Russia because they do not know the Russian laws that are applicable to them. He admitted that there are Tajiks in jails throughout Russia, but added that the number is probably half the 40,000 often given by the media. Because Tajiks do not need visas to travel to Russia, they cannot be deported from there, despite media reports to the contrary. However, they can be subject to administrative expulsion, as were 300 Tajik labor migrants who were recently expelled from Kemerovo. The newspaper quoted Tajik legal authority Hojimuhammad Umarov as saying that the Tajik labor authorities should develop a program to inform labor migrants about the laws of the countries in which they intend to seek work. (RFE/RL)